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[Story created with the help of Itsy Bitsy Spider's Fable-izer [tm] technology. Email Itsy Bitsy Spider for more info.]

This little story began in austin,tx where I boarded a plane and flew to the west coast metropolis of los angeles. After 8 hours in L.A. and a pit stop in Sydney, I found myself in perth. I took a whirlwind tour of the city, hooked up with the South African Assassin, terry, and flew to exmouth the following morning.


Exmouth was selected for its transient whale shark population. They show up around April and chow down for a few months just off the coast, providing an excellent opportunity to take a little dip with them. terry and i took a dive on Ningaloo reef before snorkeling with loads of jellyfish, several manta rays and a couple of whale sharks. The following day we went out for a couple more dives, saw a couple of nudibranchs, a shark (ok it was just a reef shark not a great white) and some of the most beautiful coral formations on the planet.


Another night in Perth and short flight across australia and we landed in melbourne. We spent a leisurely week there riding the trains, checking out the city and visiting with terry's family and friends. We did take a couple days to explore the Great Ocean Road with Terry's cousin, jerry (also from south africa).


The next stop was sydney. Jerry accompanied us on this leg of the journey. We toured the city, visited Manly Beach on the north shore, Bondi out east and the Blue Mountains to the west. In the city, we walked around Circular Quay where the world famous opera house is, enjoyed tea in the chinese garden and watched a little live music and supported the local economy by drinking lots of victoria bitter.


Leaving Sydney and Terry behind, I took a bus up to Byron Bay - the coolest little surf town on the east coast. I worked on my tan and practiced my surfing. Any place where the dolphins swim just off the beach and fast food chains aren't allowed is worth a visit in my book.


I hopped back on the bus and traveled to Brisbane where I spent a night and caught the first flight to Cairns. After a day and a half of lollygagging about, I met back up with Terry and friends and family. We took a trip up to mossman gorge before heading out on spirit of freedom for a 3 day trip to Cod Hole. There were 4 of us Nick, Terry, Manny and myself in 2 double rooms plus a friend of Nick's stuart in his own cabin and everyone else on the trip. We got back to Cairns and I hadn't had enough so I went back out on a 4 day trip to the Coral Sea. A week of some of the best diving in the world - we were lucky enough to see whales on the 2nd trip which was an incredible way to end the week.


The boat arrived back in Cairns Monday morning and I had a flight to Melbourne that evening so I could catch my flight back to the states the following morning. If you've made it this far, good on ya' mate.


Now what you've all been waiting for.....the pictures:

Note: All pictures were taken with a Sony Cybershot DSC-P1 (and underwater housing when necessary) except a couple underwater photos of an awesome manta ray we saw at the Cod Hole. Those are credited to our Japanese friends, sumo malaka and greco-roman malaka. I've adjusted the color on a lot of the underwater pics and hopefully they look more like the real thing. There are a couple where you'll see both versions and can see the difference.

And then there are the movies - mostly underwater (the videographer cannot be responsible for any people eaten or otherwise dismembered during the shooting of these movies):